


Don't Insult A Witch With ADHD

by PriTheWriter



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dungeons & Dragons References, Original Fiction, Short Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:22:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23996683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PriTheWriter/pseuds/PriTheWriter
Summary: So this is basically a school assignment I had where we had to write a short, creative story based on a mental disorder/disability. Since I am ADHD, I chose that, and decided to write a story based off of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. It's short, silly, and I just thought I might share it here. Hope you enjoy!
Kudos: 3





	Don't Insult A Witch With ADHD

The Heroes of the Fallinel were a skilled bunch, all having their own skills and strengths. Sir Lawrence, the leader of the party and a knight of the kingdom, was skilled in acts of valor and strength. Alfea of the wood elves was sound both with a bow and with animals, having a deep understanding of nature. Saint Richard of the Chantry was a holy man, blessed with the magical gift of healing from his Maker. Mistress Morrigan was a witch once, using her powers to terrorize the people before being changed by the friendship of the dwarven fighter Delaney, a skilled woman of all sorts of martial and weaponized combat, as well as drinking. The Heroes were currently on a quest to defeat an ancient red dragon who had been torching and ransacking villages along the edges of Fallinel’s borders. It was on this quest that Sir Lawrence learned a lesson he wouldn’t soon forget: don’t insult a witch with ADHD.

The party had been fighting a band of goblins that worked for the dragon, and when it came time for Morrigan to cast her spells, she stalled. Flipping through her spellbook, she hemmed and hawed, trying to decide on what to do.  
  
“I could heal Delaney… oh but Richard should be able to do that. Maybe eldritch blast the lead goblin? Wait, that other goblin is already hurt, maybe I should hit him? Hm- oh what’s that?! Oh, just a squirrel, okay. What was I doing? Right! Battling! Okay, here we go!” Morrigan finally exclaimed before she blasted the lead goblin with a beam of eldritch energy. Soon enough, the last goblin fell, and as he wiped the blood and gore from his sword, Lawrence looked to Morrigan and said, “Well, you certainly took your sweet time, didn’t you?”  
  
“What do you mean?” Morrigan asked, standing up from looting the corpses to look at Lawrence. The knight scoffed and said with a smirk on his features, “Why, that eldritch blast. It felt like ages before you finally decided to act.”  


“I was just trying to figure out what to do. It’s hard for me to decide on the right course of action sometimes.” Morrigan said, seeming a bit hurt and sheepish. Lawrence rolled his eyes and replied, “Oh please, stop with all of that. Just admit you were being lazy and let’s move on.”

The air suddenly seemed to drop a few degrees as a hush fell over the party, who all slowly turned to stare owlishly at Sir Lawrence, who was still smirking at Morrigan. The witch’s features changed quickly from quiet embarrassment to shock and finally to rage as she hissed, “ _ What _ ?”

“What? I just told you the truth. It’s better you hear it so you can stop with all the excuses.” Lawrence said with a shrug, blissfully unaware of the hell he just unleashed on himself. 

“Should I hold her back?” Delaney asked Richard, who shook his head and replied, “No, I think she’s okay for now.”

Morrigan’s eye twitched slightly, but she took a breath and asked Lawrence, “You do realize I have a diagnosed medical condition? ADHD, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder. Because I have this, I struggle with focusing and task management more than other people.”

Lawrence scoffed and told Morrigan, “Oh please, that’s all a bunch of nonsense.” 

“Okay, maybe you should intervene now.” Richard quickly said to Delaney. Morrigan starred at Lawrence for a long moment, then lowered her face, her hands tightened into fists by her side. Delaney stepped forward to comfort her friend, but then they heard it. Infernal whispers, growing in volume as Morrigan lifted her face, her eyes pitch black. Suddenly, she shot out her hand a burst of light flew out at Lawrence, striking in him the head. 

He flinched, but then opened his eyes, blinked, and touched his head, seemingly unharmed. As Morrigan’s eyes returned to normal, he demanded of her, “What did you do?!”

“I cursed you. You now have ADHD. Have fun dealing with it, you jerk.” Morrigan explained before walking off with Delaney. After they left, Richard approached Lawrence and said, “You feel okay?”

“Yeah? I mean, it didn’t hurt or anything. I don’t know what that curse is supposed to do. Heh, you suppose it’ll make me lazy?” Lawrence chuckled, earning a grimace from Richard. 

“Lawrence, that wasn’t okay what you did. ADHD is a serious disability and you shouldn’t have been rude to Morrigan about it.” Richard reprimanded. Lawrence rolled his eyes and said, “Let’s just keep moving, yeah? We’ve got a dragon to kill.”

And so, the party continued on, riding across the land on the trail of the dragon. Morrigan was apparently not speaking to Lawrence, hanging out in the cart pulled by Delaney’s horse and talking with her or reading silently. Lawrence didn’t seem to notice or care, and instead was just riding along in silence.

If anyone had looked closer, however, they would notice Lawrence was twitching slightly. Eventually, he groaned and exclaimed, “God I’m bored! Can we stop and pitch a camp or something? I need to do something other than riding all day, anything.” 

“No. We need to keep riding if we want to make it to Neverwinter before dusk.” Alfea said sternly in her usual cold and calculating way. It wasn’t that she didn’t care, she was just a very logical and practical woman. And of course, Lawrence knew that, but for some reason when Alfea said what she did, he felt his face burn red from embarrassment. He quickly hid his face with the visor of his helmet, not wanting the others to see him like this.

_ What is wrong with me? Why do I feel so- so bothered and upset?! What Alfea said was right, but I… Maker, she doesn’t hate me, does she? What? No! That’s ridiculous! Stop and think, Lawrence! You are a knight of the kingdom of Fallinel, you are not worried over people being mad at you!  _ Lawrence thought to himself, growing more and more concerned over what was wrong with him. The thought occurred to him that Morrigan’s curse might have been the cause of his distress, but he was loathe to admit it. On happenstance, he glanced back at Morrigan in the cart, only to find her looking straight at him, smirking.

A few days later, the party had found the dragon’s lair thanks to some help from villagers in Neverwinter and were facing the ancient red dragon off in its cavernous home. Alfea had taken up a place in an alcove on the wall, firing arrows into the dragon’s weak points. Richard was standing back with Morrigan, casting healing spells to the others while Morrigan hurled curses at the beast. Delaney had charged right into the fray, slashing at the dragon’s head, arms, and legs with her greatsword. And Lawrence?

Lawrence was frozen in place, unable to act. He knew he had to, but he- he just _couldn’t_. He didn’t know where to start and somehow that made starting seem impossible. Even though his friends were in danger, he just felt paralyzed, horrified at his own inability. As Delaney took a particularly bad hit, slapped aside by the dragon’s enormous paw and slamming against the cavern’s wall, Richard noticed Lawrence’s inaction and shouted, “Lawrence! Move! Do something!”  
  
“I can’t…” Lawrence replied, his voice barely a whisper. Maker, his friends were going to die because he couldn’t decide how to start. Soon enough, Richard realized what was stopping Lawrence. Quickly, he looked to Morrigan and shouted, “Lift the curse!”

Morrigan appeared conflicted, shaking her head at first, until finally she scoffed and shouted, “Fine!”

With a wave of her hands, the curse was lifted from Lawrence. As if the fog had been lifted, he now looked up at the battlefield and knew it didn’t matter where he started, he just needed to start. And so, with a thundering cry, Sir Lawrence rushed into the fray.

Many hours later, the dragon laid slain before them. Once Richard tended to all of their wounds, Lawrence sheepishly approached Morrigan, who watched him with suspicion until he dropped down to one knee in front of her.

“Morrigan, I… I owe you my sincerest apologies.” Lawrence told her, head bowed in shame. Morrigan was surprised at first, but slowly smirked as she asked, “Oh? What about?”

“I was wrong about you… and your disability. It is truly a curse you bear, and you bear it well. I only had it for a small time, and even then, it nearly drove me mad.” Lawrence explained, sincere in his apology. Morrigan smiled slightly and said, “Thank you, Lawrence. I hope you remember this the next time you insult a witch with ADHD.”


End file.
